ABSTRACT
Marta is 22 now, a senior at the University of Connecticut. She has been an American citizen for six years. She talks in the breezy post-literate style of her college peers, the softened Chinese "r" the only sign of an accent. She has an expressive face, ready to laugh; hair swept back from her high forehead; hands usually fidgeting. The college dance that would come to signify a different kind of independence for Marta Ho is almost two years in the past. But her life has been altered irrevocably by the event. So, too, has the university. Last year, Marta and Maria were joint recipients of an award from the UConn Women's Studies program, for work reflecting "a dedication to the understanding and advancement of minority women in the US". The award is named in honor of Gladys Tantaquidgeon, a Mohegan Indian who spent a lifetime acquainting Connecticut scholars and schoolchildren with her Native-American culture.
